Sydney Still Controversial
‘“Curiouser and curiouser,’ cried Alice,” and so it was with the final moments—and subsequent 64 years—of HMAS Sydney. More than a half century of suspicion, rumor, and accusation eddy about their efforts as a group in Australia tries to locate the remains of the cruiser, sunk on 19 November 1941, and its protagonist.
After two years of war, the second HMAS Sydney had amassed an enviable record. The 8,850-ton modified Leander-class light cruiser was credited with the sinking of the Italian destroyer Espero and shared credit in the sinking of the destroyer Zeffiro during the Battle of Punta Stilo on 9 July 1940. She destroyed the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni, which was later sunk by British destroyers, on 19 July at the Battle of Cape Spada, before returning to escort duty later that year around her home continent.
After handing over escort of the troop ship Zealandia in the Sunda Strait, HMAS Sydney was en route back to port in Fremantle on 19 November. In the open ocean southwest of Carnarvon, she spotted an unidentified merchant vessel and closed, requesting identification. At close quarters, the disguised German raider HSK Kormoran opened fire. Neither ship survived the ensuing battle.
Over the next 60 years, Australians have wondered, “What happened to the Sydneyl”
The National Archives of Australia noted that “The loss of HMAS Sydney with its full war complement of 645 virtually without trace remains to this day Australia’s single worst naval disaster. The circumstances surrounding the loss have never been fully explained.”
Many Australians have found it difficult to believe that the Kormoran, a converted, unarmored merchant ship, could sink a six- year-old cruiser. Further, there were no survivors among Sydney’s crew—the largest vessel of any nationality to sink with no survivors during World War II—while 341 of Kormoran’s 390 crewmen were rescued. Compounding this was official government secrecy and, more than a few believe, a cover-up.
The Royal Australian Navy waited for contact from the Sydney, thus no search was started until four days after the sinking when the first of the Kormoran’s survivors were recovered and reported the action. On the sixth day, the Ministry of Information censored the press with the following instructions: “Pending further advice no reference press or broadcasting to HMAS Sydney.” It issued ten more such notices preventing the publication of details. On 1 December, the prime minister’s first of two public announcements did little more than confirm the widely circulating rumors that the ship had been sunk.
The suspicion of government concealment was bolstered by the delay of the official announcement of the loss despite widespread common knowledge, by the lack of any genuine information about the sinking, and by the secrecy that surrounded the official investigation. In the absence of official documentation, suspicion arose that the ship was sunk by a Japanese submarine, nearly three weeks before Pearl Harbor, and that the survivors were killed to prevent them from talking.
No official public inquiry into the ship’s loss was begun until 1997. By then, according to an Australian Senate report, Australian Archives had collected a 21.6 shelf meters of documents relating to the Sydney.
Most recently, the recollections of a 77- year-old Melbourne woman have added to the suspicion against the government’s reported ignorance of the sinking. As a 16- year-old, Mrs. Hetty Hall—then Hetty Col lings—was working for the Royal Navy at Singapore on the Naval Base Cypher Staff. She recalled deciphering a message from the Sydney describing the enemy raider, and stating that the cruiser had been hit and was laying a smoke screen and sailing at three knots. The message abruptly ended. She also recalled of later that day receiving a message to keep the loss a secret until the raider was captured.
Hetty Hall’s is the only first-hand account by someone on the Allied side who read the deciphered last signals from the cruiser. Her account contradicts the official version that nothing was known of the engagement for at least four days.
It is no wonder that the Australians are eager to locate their “Hood."
Commodore Bob Trotter, Royal Australian Navy Reserve, is the national president of the Naval Association of Australia and CEO of the HMAS Sydney Search Party Ltd (HMA3S) Team. HMA3S is the trustee for the Finding Sydney Foundation. The foundation was formed to find the Sydney and its opponent, the Kormoran, commemorate their crews, and ensure preservation of the war grave.
Trotter, a 34-year veteran of RAN service, stated that “finding HMAS Sydney II is an Australian story, in support of grieving Australians so it is a task that falls to all Australians. The Foundation was established to enable Australians to meet this challenge.”
The foundation has contracted noted shipwreck hunter David Mearns—he led the July 2001 expedition that located the wreck of HMS Hood—in hopes of finding the Sydney and the Kormoran before the end of the year.
Using the latest sonar technology and new details from old documents—there were errors in translation and transcription—Mearns has begun searching an area of about 1450 square nautical miles, off Carnarvon, Western Australia.
New Naval Historical Center Director
Retired Rear Admiral Paul Edward Tobin Jr. assumed his official duties on 25 July as the new director of naval history. Tobin is a 1963 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy whose final active duty assignment was oceanographer of the Navy. His sea duty included USS Towers (DDG-9); USS Davis (DD-937), during which time he earned a Bronze Star for operations associated with the salvage of USS Liberty (AGTR-5) after that ship sustained heavy combat damage in the 1967 Mideast War; executive officer of USS Koelsch (FF-1049); command of USS Tattnall (DDG-19); chief engineer in USS Forrestal (CV-59); and command of USS Fox (CG-33).
After retiring from active duty in 1998, Rear Admiral Tobin became the executive director of the Educational Foundation of the Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association (AFCEA) in Fairfax, Virginia.
Lagarto Wreck Discovered
The discovery in May of the wreck of the USS Lagarto (SS-371) in the Gulf of Thailand has prompted much controversy. While the circumstances of its loss and general location were never in dispute, the same cannot be said for its current status.
Divers who discovered the wreck are eager to explore and film it, while the Defense Department is equally emphatic that no dives will take place because the submarine still belongs to the U.S. Navy under international maritime law and is the final resting place for the sailors who went down with her.
British wreck diver Jamie MacLeod, who discovered the 311-foot submarine about 95 miles off the eastern coast of central Thailand, stated that he has always sought official permission to dive on the sub and was working to bring some of the crew’s family members to the site.
MacLeod received permission to return to the wreck and in late July was to be joined by a reputable underwater research group. Together they plan to document the trip. Two grandchildren of Lagarto crewmembers are also planning to be on the expedition.
MacLeod spent weeks earlier this year scouring Thai waters for the boat, which sits upright on the ocean floor at a depth of about 197 feet, according to the diver. “You can see the whole wreck—it’s complete,” he said.
The 1,526-ton Balao-class submarine, built at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and commissioned in mid-October 1944, departed on her second war patrol from Subic Bay in the Philippines for the South China Sea on 12 April 1945 under the command of Commander Frank D. Latta. She was directed to patrol in the Gulf of Siam, where she rendezvoused with her sister boat, the Baya (SS-318), early on 3 May. Late that evening, the two subs made a coordinated midnight attack on a convoy. The Baya was driven off by Japanese escorts and the Lagarto was never heard from.
Japanese records state that during the night of 3-4 May, the minelayer Hatsutaka attacked an American submarine in their location. Presumably, Lagarto was sunk in battle with all hands. Her 86 crewmembers are still listed as missing in action.
MacLeod said: “It looks to me like it’s intact and it’s sitting upright on the bottom in very clear water, so you can get a good idea of what it looks like. Everything is still on it—all the armaments, the brass navigation lights. It’s beautiful.”
Civil War Stealth Feature Discovered
Conservators of the Civil War submarine H.L. Hunley in Charleston, South Carolina, working with the Naval Historical Center, discovered in mid-June a previously unknown feature called a deadlight while removing the concretion on one of the boat’s ten glass ports. The deadlight, which worked with skylights along the top of the submarine, served as both a stealth and safety feature on Hunley.
Inside the submarine a hinged iron plate, the deadlight, covers each skylight. A pin could be removed from one hinge, letting the iron plate drop down and light into the hull. With the deadlight closed, light from inside the hull was blocked, increasing the Hunley’s ability to approach her target unnoticed.
The deadlights also served as an important safety feature. During combat, a broken skylight could cause dangerous flooding. Scientists believe the two hinges holding the iron plate in place may have been fitted with rubber gaskets, which would render the skylight watertight when the plate was closed. If the glass on the skylight was damaged, the crew could lock the deadlight in place.
Hunley scientists discovered the deadlight in the shut position, and the skylight remained covered.
On the evening of 17 February 1864, the H.L. Hunley became the world’s first successful combat submarine by sinking the USS Housatonic. After signaling to shore that the mission had been accomplished, the submarine and her crew of eight vanished.
South Carolina state Sen. Glenn F. McConnell, chairman of the Hunley Commission, said “Every discovery is a clue that we will ultimately use to solve the mystery of the Hunley’s disappearance. In the crew’s last moments, they chose to leave this skylight closed, perhaps because they believed they would be returning home and wanted to remain undetected. This is another piece of the puzzle that will lead us to the ultimate answer.”
Authors Honored
Two authors were honored for their significant contributions to naval history at the Annapolis Naval History Symposium and 131st Annual Meeting of the U.S. Naval Institute in April.
Thomas B. Allen, a prolific author whose credits include National Geographic and Smithsonian magazines and several books, is a long-time supporter of the Naval Institute. He has written several articles for Naval History, beginning with his adaptation of data gathered by National Geographic for a February 1998 article, “What Really Sank the Maine V' This led to his participation as moderator of a popular Annapolis seminar program that year that included theorists on what happened 100 years earlier in Havana harbor to precipitate the Spanish-American War. Tom has also written on World War II topics for Naval History, the most recent being “The Gallant Destroyers of D-Day,” the lead article of the magazine’s 60th anniversary commemoration of the Normandy invasion. Given his body of work and his 2004 article, he was honored as Naval History Author of the Year.
A.D. Baker III, a widely respected and consulted defense analyst and writer, has been a member of the Naval Institute since 1956 and a regular contributor to its books, magazines, and seminars for more than 30 years. His many accomplishments include 11 editions of the Naval Institute Press reference book Guide to Combat Fleets of the World; 15 years of “Combat Heets” columns for Proceedings from 1989 to 2004; compilation of the annual “World Navies in Review” for the March International Navies issues of Proceedings; judging of the International Navies Essay Contest and participation in Naval Institute seminars as a panelist, featured speaker, and distinguished author. He continues to author “Historic Fleets” for Naval History. Dave earned the 2004 Special Award of Merit for being key to the Naval Institute’s reputation and success and as a valued member of the Institute family.
Civil War Naval Event
The Navy and Marine Living History Association, the Ship’s Company of the Roanoke, and the Tidewater Maritime Living History Association will host the National Civil War Navy Encampment on 15-16 October along the waterfront at Plymouth, North Carolina. A symposium sponsored by the North Carolina Civil War Tourism Council featuring the exploration of the USS Bazley and USS Otsego wrecks and an examination of torpedo warfare will be held on Friday, 14 October.
Admission for the public is free.
Vanderbilt Boat Exhibit Opens
Most people with knowledge of Long Island millionaire William K. Vanderbilt II associate him with cars; he raced them, sponsored the Vanderbilt Cup auto races at the beginning of the 20th century, and built a private parkway that carried his surname. His enjoyment of speed spilled over into the water as well. He loved watercraft, not only the speedboats and racing sailboats that provided the kind of competitive thrill he received from his race cars, but also large imposing ships he used for around-the-world cruises.
To focus attention on that nautical side, the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum, which occupies his former mansion in Centerport, New York, has created a new permanent exhibit about his vessels.
The exhibit includes photographs, models, and artifacts, including many that had been in storage. Florence Ogg, the museum’s director of archives and collections, believes Vanderbilt had at least a dozen boats over his lifetime. She has been able to only find extensive information about ten and those are the focus of the exhibit.
It should come as no surprise that Vanderbilt had an affinity for the ocean. His great-grandfather, Cornelius, began building the family fortune at age 16 by ferrying freight and passengers and built an empire in shipping before turning to railroads.
“He loved speed and adventure and he loved science,” Ogg said of the museum’s original occupant. “He would go on trips for eight or nine months. He would have the boats set up with laboratories; he had a taxidermist and photographer.”
The most spectacular exhibit artifact is a large silver-plated trophy decorated with American and British flags, which was commissioned by Sir Thomas J. Lip- ton. Vanderbilt won it racing the Virginia in 1900.
The 160-foot sloop, which won a number of races, was designed by Herreshoff and Co. that year and named for his first wife, the former Virginia Fair. Vanderbilt’s other racing sloop, the 70-foot Carmita, is the oldest boat documented in the exhibit. She was commissioned in 1898 and is represented by her brass bell.
Tarantula II was built for Vanderbilt in 1913 and turned over to the Navy in 1917 for use as a torpedo boat. She was sunk in a collision off Fire Island, New York in 1918.
The earliest speedboat detailed is the 40-foot Hard Boiled Egg, which was built in 1903. Vanderbilt gave it the name “because he said ‘it can’t be beat,”’ Ogg noted. This exhibit includes a half-hull model of the speedboat, which was powered by a 60- horsepower automobile engine.
While he was racing the speedboats, Vanderbilt also owned the first of his series of large steam vessels. “These are luxury yachts,” Ogg said. “You are talking about crews of 40 and 50.”
The first of the large powered yachts was Tarantula I, which Vanderbilt acquired in 1904. The 15311-foot steam-turbine-pow- ered vessel resembled a naval torpedo boat of the period. Vanderbilt used her for cruises from Maine to Cuba before selling her in 1914 to J.K.L. Ross, who renamed her Tuna. In 1916, Ross gave her to the Canadian Navy for use in World War I. Among the artifacts from Tarantula I in the exhibit are a portable writing table that looks like a ship’s deckhouse, a humidor made to resemble a small barrel, and a wooden fire bucket.
The 128-foot Tarantula II was built in 1913. Vanderbilt turned her over to the United States government in 1917 to be used as a torpedo boat in World War I. She was commissioned USS Tarantula (SP-124) and in 1918 collided with the steamship Frisia off Fire Island and sank. Her wreck has become a popular site for divers. Local diver Daniel Berg donated several items, including a brass porthole cover and hinges that are part of the display.
Another of Vanderbilt’s vessels, the 150- foot Eagle, was also built in 1913. He purchased her in 1920. Originally named the Adventuress while being used by the British Navy during World War 1, from 1921 to 1928 she was used for expeditions to the West Indies, England, Central America, Galapagos, and the Mediterranean.
Carl Fisher, the man who developed Miami Beach, fancied the Eagle, so Vanderbilt traded the vessel to him for seven acres of Fisher Island, Florida. Vanderbilt later bought the remaining 209 acres of the island and turned it into a luxury resort.
Alva, an impressive 264-foot diesel yacht, is the best known of Vanderbilt’s vessels. Named for his mother, she carried him on expeditions to the South Pacific, Mediterranean, and South America from 1931 to 1935. Vanderbilt gave the Alva to the Navy in 1941 to serve as an escort vessel in World War II. Commissioned the USS Plymouth (PG-57), she was sunk off the coast of North Carolina in 1943 by a U-boat.
Rounding out the exhibit are Vanderbilt’s 1921 and 1925 Naval Reserve commissions as a lieutenant commander, a display of his medals, and his collection of nautical artifacts including ship models carved from bone. “The early ones are called prisoner-of-war models because prisoners would make them during the Napoleonic wars,” Ogg said. “They became collectors’ items, and later the wealthy would commission people to make them out of ivory. So this is a very rare collection.”
By Bill Bleyer